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Is STO canon

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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    Yes Explain
    Unless they actually announce that they've changed their policy on what is canon, it's far more reasonable to assume that the old guidelines are still in place: simply removing the explanation of the rule does not rescind the rule itself.
    given how drastically they revised the policy in 2006.... It's hard to guess what they're thinking. Especially since this time it was erased completely.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
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  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    It cannot be canon as it was not shown on TV or at the movies. Canon to some is what was seen only. Even if what was seen was a mish-mash that often contradicted itself. It is their E'ed Plebnista, the Holy of Holies.
    'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
    Judge Dan Haywood
    'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
    l don't know.
    l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
    That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 58,716 Community Moderator
    No Explain
    I view STO to be as Canon as the books, so... Soft Canon at best. Unless events in the game are directly referenced in a new Prime Universe story, it will remain as canon as the old Thrawn Trilogy for Star Wars.

    I know of only two games that are to be considered Grade A Official Canon:
    • Star Trek
    • Aliens: Colonial Marines

    The first takes place between the two reboot movies, and is technically referenced in Into Darkness when McCoy makes a comment about helping a Pregnant Gorn. Although we don't see it, during the part where Kirk and Spock are trying to get to a Gorn facility, McCoy says over the open channel that Sulu had stunned a Gorn, and it was pregnant. He helped deliver the baby Gorn.

    Colonial Marines is to be considered the sequel to Aliens, where we discover the fate of the USS Sulaco, and they actually retcon the death of Hicks in Alien 3.

    So... unless otherwise specified, I do not consider games to be official Canon.
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    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
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  • bernatkbernatk Member Posts: 1,089 Bug Hunter
    No Explain
    Nope, not canon. But it's a very good game and a great place to connect with Star Trek.
    Tck7dQ2.jpg
    Dahar Master Mary Sue                                               Fleet Admiral Bloody Mary
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,014 Arc User
    No Explain
    The difference between "Soft-canon" and "Not-canon" is really just a term. And the fact that someone paid the ridiculous licensing fees for their fan-fiction.

    In terms of "canon", STO, every single book or other game holds the exact same place as random fanfiction which depicts a sailor moon/Star Trek crossover. The authors of the first ones just paid a lot of money to market their works, no official canonical piece of work has to take anything into account what happens in them, though.

    Canon becomes what is actively used in the official shows and movies - and cosnidring CBS doesn't want to make a new show or prime universe movie, probably ever again (speculation), Star Trek canon is at this point stale. Non-canonical works, licensed or not, can simply make up what they want, the events however only matter in the enclosed piece of work itself.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    No Explain
    rattler2 wrote: »
    I know of only two games that are to be considered Grade A Official Canon:
    • Star Trek

    The first takes place between the two reboot movies, and is technically referenced in Into Darkness when McCoy makes a comment about helping a Pregnant Gorn. Although we don't see it, during the part where Kirk and Spock are trying to get to a Gorn facility, McCoy says over the open channel that Sulu had stunned a Gorn, and it was pregnant. He helped deliver the baby Gorn.

    No. Star Trek canon is still only the films and TV. The game is not canon. That game is not, whether it was referenced or not.​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

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  • kerygankerygan Member Posts: 254 Arc User
    No Explain
    heralds and a game designed by rappers with a desire for bling-bling ... art is for old and idiot people
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  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    No Explain
    deokkent wrote: »
    First, you are not an authority on anything.

    Really? Nothing? How on Earth would you know that?​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,980 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    So... unless otherwise specified, I do not consider games to be official Canon.

    What about Halo? :p

    That's also a good example for how can be done differently. There, everything is canon. Books, comics, games, films, it all is overseen by and directed by a creative team. Things can still be self-contradictory (see. Halo Reach, may its name be forever glass) but there's no bickering about what is and is not part of the holy book of the franchise.

    Star Trek could take the same approach, if a certain group of people decided to take things that way (as an evolving team once did for the ST TV show and movies), but for now it officially doesn't. But so what? The question probably shouldn't be whether or not something fits in the Fanonomicon but whether or not STO is a workable piece of fiction.

    And it is. Yay!
    Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
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  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    Yes Explain
    rattler2 wrote: »
    So... unless otherwise specified, I do not consider games to be official Canon.

    What about Halo? :p

    That's also a good example for how can be done differently. There, everything is canon. Books, comics, games, films, it all is overseen by and directed by a creative team. Things can still be self-contradictory (see. Halo Reach, may its name be forever glass) but there's no bickering about what is and is not part of the holy book of the franchise.

    Star Trek could take the same approach, if a certain group of people decided to take things that way (as an evolving team once did for the ST TV show and movies), but for now it officially doesn't. But so what? The question probably shouldn't be whether or not something fits in the Fanonomicon but whether or not STO is a workable piece of fiction.

    And it is. Yay!
    This is why I like the approach taken by Marvel. They can tell whatever insane story they want and stick an alt-U number on it.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • edited November 2015
    This content has been removed.
  • sennahcheribsennahcherib Member Posts: 2,823 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    i don't understand why you still discuss the fact that STO is canon or not.
    Take a look around you (in game lol); a lot of a aliens ships are used by players, a lot of alien armors are used by players, same thing for the weapons; most of the stories are not well written (I did today again House Pegh; ludicrous) and couldn't be canon etc etc.

    in STO now, I take what i want, and I skip the other things (I leave STFs, when there are herald ships). I stopped to hope for the best, and I play with the current stuff in game.

    I'm not a star trek fan (even if I have seen all the tv shows and the films), so I can't imagine the frustation of the real fans; I just hope that there will never be MMO games based on Farscape.
    Post edited by sennahcherib on
  • commanderkassycommanderkassy Member Posts: 1,005 Arc User
    Yes Explain
    It is to me and I don't care even a bit what other people think.
    ♪ I'm going around not in circles but in spirographs.
    It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,014 Arc User
    No Explain
    I stand by my remark from earlier - I think (and this is not meant judgemental, mind you!) that many people have no idea what "canon" even is supposed to mean and think saying "not canon" means "it's bad" or something like that.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • oldravenman3025oldravenman3025 Member Posts: 1,892 Arc User
    I consider the notion of "canon" in any fictional universe to be a ridiculous concept, cooked up to provide material for endless battles between raging nerds and basement dwellers.

    The whole "onscreen only" deal is a rule of thumb to keep things tidy when discussing Trek, not TRIBBLE holy writ. I consider any valid source material (such as that provided from the people who actually worked on the damned shows/movies) to carry as much weight as what was shown on-screen.

    And for the record, I'm not contradicting myself here. I'm mostly referring to "points of reference" when discussing Trek and it's stories. Not some vague and nebulous notion of "canon".
  • mackbolan01mackbolan01 Member Posts: 580 Arc User
    and i suppose by what SOME ppl think, the 2 cgi smurf movies would/would not be canon to the smurf universe....( i have no opinion on this btw )​​
  • markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,236 Arc User
    Yes Explain
    I consider the notion of "canon" in any fictional universe to be a ridiculous concept, cooked up to provide material for endless battles between raging nerds and basement dwellers.

    The whole "onscreen only" deal is a rule of thumb to keep things tidy when discussing Trek, not TRIBBLE holy writ. I consider any valid source material (such as that provided from the people who actually worked on the damned shows/movies) to carry as much weight as what was shown on-screen.

    And for the record, I'm not contradicting myself here. I'm mostly referring to "points of reference" when discussing Trek and it's stories. Not some vague and nebulous notion of "canon".
    And this is why I like Marvel's approach. All officially licensed material is "canon" but may or may not be part of the main timeline.

    The OP question would make a lot more sense if it was better worded. "Is this the official future of the prime universe?" that would have been a better question.
    -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    My character Tsin'xing
    Costume_marhawkman_Tsin%27xing_CC_Comic_Page_Blue_488916968.jpg
  • metaliantmetaliant Member Posts: 55 Arc User
    Yes Explain
    I am going to say yes and for these reasons.

    1) When all the shows and films came around, few things just didn't/don't make sense, eg How the Klingons were different from TOS and the films and then the sequel shows, TNG, DS9, etc.
    2) If the 2 reboot films are canon, then why not the game which could be seen as an alternate universe similar to the films and in a way the Enterprise series.

    I don't like the books as they are self contained stories and are just awful.
    OH MY GOD THEY KILLED JIM KIRK
    YOU TRIBBLE
  • taylor1701dtaylor1701d Member Posts: 3,099 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    So what happens when the Hard Canon makes errors ?
    Like beaming up Scotty and Geordi in The Dyson Sphere episode TNG ?
    (They used Scotty's shuttle to keep the dyson spheres doors wedged open to allow the Enterprise to escape. The shuttle was using its shields at the time to keep the doors wedged open. Then the Enterprise swoops in and beams Scotty and Laforge off the shuttle and escaped the Dyson sphere ? No shields were lowered, they just got beamed up through the shields.

    So can you, or can you not, transport people off a shielded ship, Canon says No, AND Yes.

    Should we start omitting certain episodes that have made errors ?
    What is the CBS policy on this ?
    No one knows.
    Post edited by taylor1701d on
    [img][/img]OD5urLn.jpg
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  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,014 Arc User
    No Explain
    (...)
    So can you, or can you not, transport people off a shielded ship, Canon says No, AND Yes.
    (...)

    While the issue in question indeed was a (acknowledged) mistake, it only is a real problem if you assume there's only one "switch" - on or off. It has been established, though, that there are multiple shield emitters and shields can drop independently from each other. While to my knowledge not officially corrected canon provides a loophole for this error to actually not be an error (it was one, as I said, even acknowledged one).

    Other isntances were "corrected" on-screen. VOY's "Threshold" has been debunked in the same show: Tom Paris has a throw away line much later in the series which intentionally contradicts "Threshold". The reason for that is that those responisble for the episode inq uestion actually realized that it was bad and attempted to remove it from continuity.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • taylor1701dtaylor1701d Member Posts: 3,099 Arc User
    angrytarg wrote: »
    (...)
    So can you, or can you not, transport people off a shielded ship, Canon says No, AND Yes.
    (...)

    While the issue in question indeed was a (acknowledged) mistake, it only is a real problem if you assume there's only one "switch" - on or off. It has been established, though, that there are multiple shield emitters and shields can drop independently from each other. While to my knowledge not officially corrected canon provides a loophole for this error to actually not be an error (it was one, as I said, even acknowledged one).

    Other isntances were "corrected" on-screen. VOY's "Threshold" has been debunked in the same show: Tom Paris has a throw away line much later in the series which intentionally contradicts "Threshold". The reason for that is that those responisble for the episode inq uestion actually realized that it was bad and attempted to remove it from continuity.​​

    Yeah I just head canon that they shut down the shields at the very last possible moment, letting the hull do the work for a very brief time, before being transported.

    There's also another question, what happens when a long line of "Approved Canon" gets relegated to "Legends" status as seen in Star Wars. Where all the novels that followed the Jedi timeline were considered canon for a very long time, until Disney decided, they didn't fit with the story they wanted to tell.
    Personally that didn't bother me, but there was a lot of outrage over that.
    Selling novels to the public for years, as "Lucas Approved Canon" ...only to then dismiss them when the need suited them.
    In that regard, I can see why some fans would be upset by that flip flop.

    [img][/img]OD5urLn.jpg
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,014 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    No Explain
    Yeah I just head canon that they shut down the shields at the very last possible moment, letting the hull do the work for a very brief time, before being transported.

    There's also another question, what happens when a long line of "Approved Canon" gets relegated to "Legends" status as seen in Star Wars. Where all the novels that followed the Jedi timeline were considered canon for a very long time, until Disney decided, they didn't fit with the story they wanted to tell.
    Personally that didn't bother me, but there was a lot of outrage over that.
    Selling novels to the public for years, as "Lucas Approved Canon" ...only to then dismiss them when the need suited them.
    In that regard, I can see why some fans would be upset by that flip flop.

    In Star Wars' case it happened because Lucas sold his works and has nothing to do with it anymore. Disney now holds the IP and they decided to change it. As with Star Trek's case, I understand perfectly that people might not like that - but it's fruitless to discuss that. The IP-holder owns the franchise and determines what is and is not canon and what happens in it. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

    Mind you, as with Star Trek, just because the old works are now "legends" or non-canon doesn't mean they suddenly are bad or anything.​​
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • evilito8evilito8 Member Posts: 39 Arc User
    No Explain
    Depends on which universe you think is canon. Prime, JJ Abrams, STO. Different time lines. STO can be considered the Groundhog timeline. Events just repeat over and over again lol. Purist consider Films and TV canon and the rest soft canon. Look at what happened to Star Wars, that is now only Disney canon!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] Seven of Eleven
    "live long enough to be assimilated, resistance is futile"
  • artan42artan42 Member Posts: 10,450 Bug Hunter
    No Explain
    angrytarg wrote: »
    Other isntances were "corrected" on-screen. VOY's "Threshold" has been debunked in the same show: Tom Paris has a throw away line much later in the series which intentionally contradicts "Threshold". The reason for that is that those responisble for the episode inq uestion actually realized that it was bad and attempted to remove it from continuity.

    He refers to never have travelled through a Transwarp conduit, not at transwarp.​​
    22762792376_ac7c992b7c_o.png
    Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
    JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.

    #TASforSTO


    '...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
    'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
    'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
    '...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
    'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
    '...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek

    Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
  • lordmalak1lordmalak1 Member Posts: 4,681 Arc User
    I play STO on a television, so it IS canon.
    :pensive:

    Last year when I was using a PC monitor it wasn't canon.
    KBF Lord MalaK
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  • gfreeman98gfreeman98 Member Posts: 1,201 Arc User
    No Explain
    No.

    This has been covered before. Star Trek canon has always been defined as what's shown on-screen. Only the movies and various TV series are canon. There's debate if the Animated series counts. Everything else is not.

    This is not like Star Wars where they apparently count comics and other things.
    screenshot_2015-03-01-resize4.png
  • lordmalak1lordmalak1 Member Posts: 4,681 Arc User
    gfreeman98 wrote: »
    No.

    This has been covered before. Star Trek canon has always been defined as what's shown on-screen. Only the movies and various TV series are canon. There's debate if the Animated series counts. Everything else is not.

    This is not like Star Wars where they apparently count comics and other things.

    Star Wars has NOTHING off-screen thats canon. It's all been 'flushed' as of Disney's buy-out of Lucas. It's quite possible all the previous movies are no longer canon.
    KBF Lord MalaK
    Awoken Dead
    giphy.gif

    Now shaddup about the queues, it's a BUG
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,166 Arc User
    edited November 2015
    lordmalak1 wrote: »
    gfreeman98 wrote: »
    No.

    This has been covered before. Star Trek canon has always been defined as what's shown on-screen. Only the movies and various TV series are canon. There's debate if the Animated series counts. Everything else is not.

    This is not like Star Wars where they apparently count comics and other things.

    Star Wars has NOTHING off-screen thats canon.

    You are half right, and half wrong. The half right part is that anything off screen before Disney has been flushed. However, they have now said that everything they are making *post* Disney IS canon, and that includes, the movies, books, and video games:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon#Disney_acquisition.2C_canon_revision_and_Star_Wars_Legends

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

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